LG Focuses
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Management

LG Electronics declares "Year of design management"

LG Business Group is putting more energy into raising its profile in the design sector after it declared the first year of its so-called design management.
LG Chairman Koo Bon-moo visited the design centers of LG Electronics and LG Chem, the pillars of the conglomerate one after another.
The chairman reviewed the operation of LCD and PDP TV sets and how thin they have become during his visit to the LG Electronics Design Management Center in Yeoksam-dong, southeastern Seoul.
He gave words of encouragement to designers, saying, "the designs of portable models have shown significant improvement."He called for the designers to focus on designs that appeal to customers'sentiment and their convenience.
LG Electronics Vice Chairman S. S. Kim surprised audiences at a in-house fashion show by posing as a fashion model shortly after he held a ceremony designed to declare this year as the first year of design management.
Each subsidiary of LG Business Group is coming up with its respective plans to follow up on design management.
LG corporations are channeling huge amounts of investments into design personnel development and R&D activities.
The conglomerate plans to raise the number of designs from current 500 to 600 by the end of this year. In particular, the business group decided to introduce the so-called "super-designer system"in which any designer who produces back-to-back design model hits is awarded with executive treatment.
LG Business Group's design management stretches not just to electronics division, but also to chemical, parts and materials and living goods divisions. LG Chem is paying keen attention to the design of such consumer goods as interior and construction materials. Design management policies are employed in such areas as the development of LCD panel modules.
LG Group Koo has repeatedly emphasized the significance of design,
saying that each company's competitive edge depends on design in the 21st century at a time when the technological gap among products has disappeared.LG Electronics, the flagship company of the business group, is rated to be heading from Level 3 toward Level 4, an equivalent to that of such global electronics players as Sony and Matsushita. The company has made strenuous efforts to realize a goal of raising its design profile to Level 5 as it has taken the necessary steps like the introduction of a super-design system.
LG Electronics'focus on design management have paid off: it snatched the 'Design Team of the Year 2006'of reddot design award in Essen, Germany, on June 26.
Italian design maestro Giorgetto Giugiaro, 68, extolled LG Electronics to the skies for winning the award. The renowned designer commented that LG Electronics, which started with the design of radio and TV sets in the 1960s was synonymous with the history of Korean design, and the company has achieved a feat of climbing to the top position. nw

LG Chairman Koo Bon-moo

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